Family Matters
by IHeartSKatic
Summary: Maura Isles and Jane Rizzoli have to find a way to manage their kids, their careers and their state of mind.
Hey, everyone.

Last week I was reading Family matters and I thought it was really, really poorly written, maybe because it was my first fan fiction ever. I have gotten better since then -I believe- and since this story is so dear to me, I decided to rewrite it. I made some changes, of course, added more stuff, but it's pretty much the same thing.

A guest reviewer said that the names of the kids from my stories were the same as some other story he/she had read. It wasn't intentional, believe me. Isabella and Noah are the names that I've always wanted for my kids, those are the names I love the most. But, since I don't want to get myself into any kind of trouble - I just want to write- I've changed the name of the girl.

Anyways, I truly hope you enjoy this.

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"I won the fucking game, Ellie. Just let it go." The tall brunette lanky boy said to his sister as he turned the doorknob of the front door of their house in Beacon Hill. He was covered in dirt from the baseball game with his younger sister and he knew that his mother would have a heart attack if she caught him like that in their foyer.

"Language, Noah. And you so did not! You clearly cheated. I still don't know how, but I know you did." The blonde girl said matter of factly. Baseball game on Saturdays had become somewhat of a tradition to the pair of siblings, they would wake up early in the morning, around 7:30am and leave the house before their mothers could stop them –each with a different fruit in hand. And never had her brother won a single game.

The two kids walked into the foyer of their house, leaving a mess of coats, bags, bats and baseballs right in front of the closet – no matter how many times their mother had told them to put the things in their respective places, they never did. Ellie made her way to the living room, plopping down on their sofa while Noah made a bee line to the fridge to get some Snapple.

"Okay, fine. What did I do to make you think that I cheated?" He shouted from behind de kitchen counter as he read the interesting – or not- fact written on the cap of the bottle. "Come on, tell me." Ellie rolled her eyes and shot her arms up in surrender. "Yeah, yeah, you won the game. I don't wanna talk about it anymore." She sighed as she got up to a sitting position. Ellie rolled her eyes once more when she saw her brother approaching the couch with a huge smug smile on his lips.

"You're just mad 'cause you lost to me." Noah moved his eyebrows up and down, laughing at his sister's annoyed face. "Just chill, you can always beat me next week."

"You're honestly going to kill my patience, you know that?" She laughed heartily, punching him gently on the arm. Inclining her head toward the stairs, Ellie shouted "Ma! Mom! We're home!"

"You don't need to shout in my ear, you know. They probably heard the door, dumbass." He said after taking the last gulp of his Snapple, belching on his sister's ear.

"EW! YOU'RE DISGUSTING!"

Jane, lying in her bed upstairs next to her wife, grabbed one of the pillows and screamed into it as soon as she heard her daughter's familiar voice. They had arrived earlier than usual and ruined her alone time with the love of her life. She screamed once again and Maura couldn't help but laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Jane's voice was muffled from the pillow and Maura almost didn't hear her. The doctor looked at her wife's hair spread on top of her head and pillow and giggled again.

" Did you honestly think that you would get a day off from your kids?" Maura tried to muffle her giggles by putting one of her hands on top of her mouth, but she failed beautifully.

"No, Maura…" Jane lifted her head from the pillow, running her fingers through her untamed mane. She rolled her eyes at her wife before continuing to explain the reason behind her behavior. " I just thought I would have more time with you. I mean we haven't been alone together in a while and we haven't, you know…"

"Engaged in sexual intercourse?" Maura arched one perfect eyebrow, she knew Jane was right, they hadn't been intimate for weeks now. With the pressure of their jobs, cases piling up, paperwork to fill, they got home way too tired to think about anything other than having dinner with their kids and falling asleep on their California King bed.

"Oh my God, Maura! Gross!" Jane's cheeks and neck turned into a deep shade of red instantly, showing how embarrassed she was. "Why can't you just say 'sex' like a normal person? Jees." Maura tried to reply, but all that came out of her mouth was another giggle.

"Anyways, it's not only having to share your attention with them all the time that bothers me. It's also the constant arguments over pretty much every little thing." Jane straighten her back, throwing her hair to her left and making her voice as thin as she could manage to try and imitate their young daughter. " Ma, Noah hid the control from me again and is making me watch this stupid show." Next, she narrowed her eyebrows and let her voice come back to normal. " Mom, Ellie drank my orange juice." At the sound of her wife's light laughter, she gave in with her own. "Seriously, me and my brothers sucked at sharing, but these kids are the worst."

"Noah!" Ellie screamed as she examined the contents of the freezer. She had left a cup of Red Velvet Cheesecake ice cream there a few days ago and now all kinds of green beans and peas filled the cold space. "I can't believe you ate my ice cream." She continued once she heard a low 'Hm?" coming from somewhere in the living room.

The boy froze as soon as his sister's words sank in. He remembered that he did indeed eat the ice cream, but at the time all he wanted was to replace the nasty taste of his mother's green tea with something sweet. "Why don't you ask the other two people that live here before pointing your fingers at me?" He tried to buy himself sometime with denial, even though he knew that the chances of succeeding were very, very low.

"Mom is on a constant diet and Ma hates this flavor. I know it was you!" They stood in silence for a while, Ellie trying really hard to calm herself and Noah trying to come with a safe plan to get to his room. After a few more moments, the sound of Noah's sneakers up the stairs broke the fake peace. "Don't you run away from me, Noah!"

The girl ran after her brother as if she was a predator and he was a prey. He knew he wouldn't be able to get to his room in time so he opted for the second safer place: the guest room. Noah managed to get to the room and close the door behind him before his sister caught up to him. When he finally allowed himself to relax, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, he heard loud thud on the door and in that moment he knew that his sister wouldn't let that go any time soon.

"Jane, please. Don't be so dramatic, they rarely argue abou-" Maura was rudely interrupted by two pairs of feet running up the stairs and Ellie's angry screams. She looked at her wife and they got up hurriedly at the same time. Jane sighed, not wanting the last strands of patience to fade away. " You were saying, Doctor Isles?" All Jane got was a shrug of shoulders in response and a small smile from her wife. They ran towards the hall and arrived just in time to see Ellie throwing kicks at the guest bedroom's door and yelling 'get out' repeatedly.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jane husky voice echoed through the hall, causing Ellie to stop her actions and turn around to face her mothers who were clearly disturbed with all the commotion. The young girl felt ashamed for a few seconds before remembering the reason why she was so mad at her brother. "He ate my ice cream, Ma! I saved one left spoon for me and he ate it." Ellie turned to the door again and kicked it with everything she got.

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, STOP!" The I-don't-want-to-share-with-my-sibling thing was really getting on Jane's nerves. She grew up with two boys, which was not an easy thing to do, specially being the oldest. She always had to share, even when she didn't want to. Even when it was something she worked hard for. Sure, she would get pissed and angry and she would scream, but in the end she wouldn't mind. Ice cream wasn't something common in the Rizzoli household when Jane was a kid, and still she wasn't all that mad if one of her brothers ate the last spoon.

Maura saw the look in her wife's face and held her back by the arm when she started moving towards their daughter. She never understood siblings' dynamics, being an only child and all, but she knew that they had to stop fighting like this. "Elle, let's go have a little talk in the family room." Maura kissed her wife's temple before following the mini version of herself down the stairs. Jane sighed and ran her fingers through her hair sighed and ran her fingers through her hair before knocking on the door a few times. "Noah, you have three minutes to come downstairs. We need to talk."

…

Maura took a sit on the Charles Eames chair across from her children -who were sited side by side on the sofa – listening as Jane went on and on about how siblings had to respect each other and how she would not tolerate those kinds of attitudes in her home and that as long as they lived under that roof, they would have to listen and follow hers and Maura's rules. "Was I clear?" Jane said, finally putting an end to her speech.

"Yes, Mama." Ellie said without making eye contact with Jane, suddenly finding something incredibly interesting on the floor next to her left foot. She knew she was wrong; she shouldn't have yelled and kicked the door more than once. She shouldn't have been so selfish.

"Yeah, Ma." Noah said next. He should have asked, he knew that. If it was the other way around the fight would have been way worse. In that moment, he decided that they had to stop that. They were siblings, after all. She was his little sister and he was supposed to protect her and be there for her.

"Good. Now apology to each other." Jane said, moving her index finger between her two children.

"I'm sorry I ate your ice-cream, El. I promise it won't happen again."

"I'm sorry for running after you and exploding like that." She gave him a small but honest smile. "And I'm sorry for saying that you only won the game cause you cheated." The two kids hugged tightly before asking permission to go play something outside. Jane nodded and the two flew through the door before the detective could register.

Maura got up from the chair and made her way towards her wife, slipping her arms around Jane's waist. The doctor pressed her lips to the brunette's neck and whispered in her ear. "You're so amazing, sweetheart." Another kiss, this time on the spot behind Jane's ear. "They are lucky to have you."

Jane span in Maura's arms, facing her. Deep brown eyes met light hazel ones. They were so different, the two of them, absolute opposites. And yet they managed to complete each other. Jane could bring Maura's casual and relaxed side to life and Maura could bring Jane's more mature side. They were perfect for each other. "No, babe. They are lucky to have us."

* * *

"Guys, dinner's in five! Maura shouted to her wife and kids –who were playing basketball in the backyard – from the kitchen window. Maura had a few favorite things she loved doing in her life, and cooking dinner for her family was on of them.

Noah and Elle turned their attention to their mother and nodded in response and Jane –taking advantage of the distraction – passed by her kids and threw the ball in the basket, scoring three point. "Basic rule: don't ever turn your head from the game. Losers!"

"That's so not fair, Ma. Mom called us!" Ellie said, frowning.

"Yeah, well, she called me too, nugget. I just didn't turn." Jane poked her daughter's side and the two of them shared a heartily laugh. Ellie was the spitting image of Maura. Same hair and eye color, same body type, even the same tone of voice –Jane actually had confused the two of them over the phone more than once. But her personality was just like Jane's. Strong, overprotective, funny and sarcastic at times. "Come on, let's help Mom set the table." The detective put her arm around Ellie's shoulder as they walked towards the kitchen. "You two, bug!" She said over the shoulder to Noah when she noticed that he wasn't following them.

A fantastic smell filled their nostrils as soon as the three of them walked in. Ellie got closer to the oven –as Jane and Noah went to dinning room to set the table- and rested her chin on Maura's shoulder to see what she was cooking. "That smells so good, Mom. What are we having?" The girl said as she joined her mother and brother.

Maura put the contents of the big pot on the ceramic plate that Angela gave them on the previous Christmas and brought it to the table with a big smile on her face. "Well, as I promised your Ma… Pasta Carbonara with chicken and peas." Jane let out a high-pitched sound that made everyone laugh.

Over the meal, they shared all kinds of life experiences as well as funny stories from school and work. Ellie told one of the funniest stories of the night. She told them about the time a boy in her class let the pet rat out of the cage and her History teacher –a 60 year old, annoying as hell, male teacher- screamed like a little girl. Laughter and happiness filled the entire house.

Maura observed her family with tears in her eyes. She never, in her 40 years of life, imagined that she would feel this happy and this loved. Jane gave her everything she ever wanted and in that moment she could feel herself falling in love with her wife all over again. In that moment she realized that she was the one who was truly lucky. She was lucky to have them.

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I love reviews ;)


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